Renee Komanetsky of Weaverville wanted to try a new way to play Powerball so she closed her eyes, pointed to numbers at random, and won a $100,000 prize.
“I had to go with my gut and my gut said to just close my eyes and pick,” Komanetsky said.
Komanetsky, 50, said she usually buys Quick Pick tickets when she plays Powerball. But this time, she logged on to the NC Lottery Official Mobile App, went to the Powerball page, closed her eyes and tapped her phone six times.
“It was just something I tried this time,” she said. “I guess I’ll be doing all my tickets that way now.”
Komanetsky bought her lucky $3 ticket in the Jan. 14 drawing. She matched the numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball to win $50,000. The prize doubled to $100,000 when the 2X Power Play multiplier hit.
“When I saw I won I didn’t think it was real,” she said. “I thought something was wrong with the app.”
Komanetsky claimed her prize Friday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $71,251. She said she bought an Oculus VR headset to celebrate her win.
“My head is still spinning,” she said. “It didn’t seem real until I came in here.”
Monday’s Powerball drawing offers a $613 million jackpot, or $329 million in cash. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
Powerball is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. The other games are Mega Millions, Lucky For Life, and Carolina Cash 5.
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